A primary use of computers, especially personal computers, is information processing. There are a wide variety of application programs available that "computerize" information processing tasks that were previously performed manually. One such application program is Microsoft Excel, an accounting program for personal or business use. In application programs such as Microsoft Excel, a worksheet is the primary document used to store and manipulate data. One commonly used type of worksheet is a spreadsheet, which is a two dimensional rectangular grid of a finite number of columns and rows. The intersection of each column and row is a cell, the basic unit of a worksheet in which a user stores data. A user may move the screen cursor around the spreadsheet to select desired cells as the active cell.
Data contained in the worksheet may be manipulated by functions, which are special pre-written formulas that take a value or values, perform an operation, and return a value or values. Using functions simplifies and shortens formulas in worksheets, especially those that perform lengthy or complex calculations. Data contained in the spreadsheet is manipulated in part by functions, which are calculation tools that allow a user of a computer system to perform decision-making, action-taking, and value-returning operations. Functions work with arguments, which are the information that a function uses to produce a new value or perform an action. Typically, a function and its arguments are in one of two forms: FUNCTION (arg1, arg2, . . . , argN), where the arguments may be numbers or cell names; or FUNCTION (arg1: argN), where arg1 and argN represent a range of cells. An example is the sum function, which returns the sum of the arguments specified.
In the past, a user carried out mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, division, etc.) on spreadsheet data in a variety of different ways. First, the user could type the numbers or cell names to be manipulated along with the operators in a formula format, i.e., A1+A2+A3. Second, the user could type in a function name along with a list of numbers and/or cell names to be manipulated as arguments, i.e., SUM (A1,A2,A3). Third, the user could type in a function name with the range of cells to be manipulated as arguments, i.e., SUM(A1: A3). Fourth, the user could type in the function name, then use the keyboard arrows or mouse to mark a range of cells to be used as arguments. Fifth, the user could select a function from a list of functions, then use the keyboard arrows or mouse to mark a range of cells to be used as arguments. Finally, some systems allow a user to manipulate an entire column or row of data by typing a special symbol in the cell below or to the right of the data to be manipulated. The user must specify whether the row or the column of data is to be manipulated, and how much of the data is to be used in the calculation. Although some of these methods are somewhat of an improvement over earlier methods, each existing method requires significant user effort to select and execute the mathematical operation.
The sum function constitutes the majority of all mathematical operations used in a spreadsheet. When using the sum function, spreadsheet users invariably put sum formulas at the bottom of a column of data or to the right of a row of data. Nonetheless, existing systems require a user to manually specify which cells to add together, by either typing in the information or by using keyboard arrows or a mouse to mark the range. It would be desirable for an application program to have the capability to select and execute an arithmetic function or the like with minimal user effort.